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Review: Dark (Season 3) (2020)
I'll admit that I didn't like the direction that season 3 was going with, but at least I was still able to pick out parts from this season to make the entire show make sense to me (not sure if that makes sense).
Overall, I think I enjoyed this series more for the direction style than the actual story (I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi/time travel anyway).
Spoilers.
Story
I really wish the story had stuck to time travel rather than multiple universes, and I really think this was a result of the writers writing on a season-by-season basis. If the writers had planned the entire story from start to finish when season 1 was being produced, I think we would've had more clues alluding to multiple universes rather than just Martha appearing at the end of season 2 and all of season 3 being dedicated to multiple universes. Does that make sense? Basically, the story could've been SUPER tight if it had been planned from beginning to end all at once.
I admit that during season 3, I just lost interest in the very technical aspects of the show, in terms of how Jonas, Martha, Claudia, and Charlotte were time hopping to put things in motion or stopping them from happening. There was so much going on that I felt like it didn't matter anymore.
I also didn't think that such a story lended well to sudden revelations because the technical aspect of science fiction was so important. Like season 2, there was a lot of info dumping in this season, and I feel like the writers either should've added episodes, or (preferrably) refrained from trying to plug every single hole in the story to complete the family tree. At the time that it was revealed, I felt like Silja and Bartosz having children just wasn't important to the story anymore.
I was partially convinced by the idea that Jonas and alternate Martha's worlds were only created because H.G. Tannhaus had initiated time travel. My interpretation was that Jonas and Martha's messed up worlds had to persist in order to uphold the logic of the origin world. That, I buy.
However, I didn't really buy the idea of Martha being Jonas' counterpart in her world. I guess the way I would interpret it would be that Martha and Jonas were both children who were not meant to be (Nielsen and Kahnwald families were created as a result of time travel) but they specifically were drawn to each other because of love.
The final scene in the origin world showed people who were not affected by time travel. So out of the adults of 2019, Ulrich and Charlotte were not there because Agnes Nielsen was Bartosz and Silja's child and Charlotte was Elisabeth and Noah's child. And I guess Boris wasn't there because he would've skipped out of town because he wouldn't have found a job welding for the nuclear power plant.
Like I said, I wish this story was a bit tighter because by the end of the season, it wasn't really about time travel anymore, and was more about multiple universes.
Production
The version of season 3 that I found had English dubbing instead of the original German voices, so it took a bit of getting used to.
In terms of the direction style, it was similar to the style of season 2. Less about the grim drab world of Winden and more about science fiction. It was still professionally done, but there was just something about season 1 that invoked a certain feeling and atmosphere. The show even made a point to hate on Winden but at the end of everything, Winden didn't seem like such a big problem anymore except for it just being a generic small town that the residents hated.
Characters
There are A LOT of characters so I'm going to try to only focus on the ones who I remembered. For the characters that have no qualifiers, they are from Jonas' world. The characters with "alternate" in front of their name are from Martha's world, and the characters with "origin" in front of their name are from the origin world.
Jonas Kahnwald
I feel like young Jonas kind of dipped for a big part of the story. Adam had a bigger role in the story as someone who was trying to destroy all the worlds and his own existence along with it. However, Adam also had that talk with Claudia in which she revealed to him that there was an origin world, which then shifted his thinking.
At the end, Jonas and alternate Martha travelled to the origin world to stop H.G. Tannhaus' son and daughter-in-law from driving to the bridge at night which would prevent their deaths and prevent H.G. Tannhaus from trying to create a time machine to begin with. That would erase Jonas' existence, but he was on board with that from season 1.
Hannah Kahnwald
Hannah travelled to the past, posing as Katharina to see Ulrich. I think she was hoping that in this world secluded from their original timeline, they could live judgment free. However, when she visited Ulrich, she wasn't convinced that he really loved her. I think she saw that he was just desperate to get out, and he would love her if it would get him out, but he wouldn't necessarily love her out of his own volition, so she left him.
Still posing as Katharina, Hannah had an affair with Egon Tiedemann and was going to get the child aborted but later kept it. That child was Silja.
Hannah and Silja later visited Adam, and he killed her.
Ulrich Nielsen
Ulrich was visited by Katharina in 1986. She was going to break him out, but she was killed, and that was why he stayed in the mental institution.
Katharina Nielsen
Katharina's mother Helene was a nurse at the institution that Ulrich was at. Katharina tried to mug her to get the key card (which she would use to break Ulrich free) but Helen overpowered her. Thus, Katharina died in 1986.
Magnus Nielsen
Adult Magnus briefly materialized in the alternate world to stop Marta and Bartosz from doing something, but he otherwise didn't have a big role.
Agnes Nielsen
Agnes was Silja and Bartosz' second child. She left Winden to return to Sic Mundus.
Tronte Nielsen
We mostly saw Tronte as a young teen. He kind of had a sexual relationship with Claudia, but on th side, we saw that Jana was starting to be interested in him too.
Helene Albers
As mentioned, Helen was Katharina's mother who was working at the institution. We also saw her as a child because her mother was the midwife who was going to abort Hannah's child. Helene was introduced to Hannah who was posing as "Katharina." I'm hesitant to say that Helene got the inspiration for the name from her meeting Katharina because Katharina still showed up in the origin world.
Anyway, Helene was an insanely devout woman, and was also abusive to Katharina. Even as an adult, Katharina was a bit timid with Helene, showing how much fear she had of her mother.
Charlotte Doppler
Charlotte did some time hopping in this season, but honestly she didn't have as big of an impact on the story as I'd liked. I was hoping she'd be doing some more sleuthing, but I guess she couldn't measure up to Claudia who had a lot more experience and research.
Peter Doppler
We mostly saw Peter in the aftermath of the apocalypse where he was trying to care for Elisabeth. He died when trying to protect Elisabeth from a rapist.
Franziska Doppler
Like Magnus, Franziska didn't have a huge role and they mostly showed up together.
Elisabeth Doppler
Like Peter, we mostly saw Elisabeth in the apocalypse, usually with her dad or with Noah. Elisabeth killed her rapist but not before he stabbed her dad to death.
Noah said that he'd protect Elisabeth after Peter's death, and it seems that was carried out, as we did see Elisabeth grow up into an adult to have Charlotte.
Egon Tiedemann
Egon had an affair with Hannah and fell in love with her. Meanwhile, Doris was still very in love with Agnes, and after some convincing by the Unknown, Doris figured she should divorce Egon. After the divorce, Claudia stayed with Egon, and it seems Egon became an alcoholic.
In his old age, Egon understood time travel, but not the multiple universes.
Doris Tiedemann
As mentioned, Doris was in love with Agnes, and after Agnes returned to Sic Mundus and left Tronte in her house, she spent all of her energy looking for clues to find Agnes.
Claudia Tiedemann
Claudia eventually figured out that there was an origin world and finally was able to set up a meeting to explain it to Adam.
Bartosz Tiedemann
I thought that Bartosz would have a limited role, but it turns out he was sent by older Martha to stop alternate Martha from going to the Nielsen house right before the apocalypse.
Bartosz also travelled back to the 1800s and eventually had kids with Silja.
Silja Tiedemann
Silja was the girl we saw from the future who was Elisabeth's interpreter. She was Hannah Kahnwald and Egon Tiedemann's daughter. Like Bartosz, I didn't expect to see her again, but I felt like her being sent back to the past was just to tie up loose ends.
Hanno Tauber/Noah
Noah was Silja and Bartosz's first child. We didn't really see him do anything new this season, just repeating his steps in his timeline as he always had.
Alternate Ulrich
In the alternate world, Ulrich and Katharina had three kids, but Ulrich divorced Katharina to be with Hannah. While Hannah was pregnant, Ulrich was having an affair with Charlotte. So Ulrich was still pretty scummy in the alternate universe.
In the alternate world, Ulrich was also investigating the sudden appearance of a dead boy (who ended up being his brother Mads). He'd gone as far as Ulrich Nielsen did (in Jonas' world), but he was eventually killed by old Helge who was trying to break the cycle.
Alternate Hannah
Alternate Hannah was just as selfish and vindictive as Hannah Kahnwald was. After she figured out Ulrich was having an affair, she blackmailed Ulrich into ruining Charlotte's life. We never saw the results of that though. As well, if I recall correctly, we saw a scene in which Hannah was having a miscarriage, so I guess they weren't meant to have a baby, just like they weren't in Jonas' world either.
Alternate Katharina
In the alternate world, Katharina was a single mom taking care of three kids, but Mikkel never disappeared.
Alternate Martha
Alternate Martha was supposed to be Jonas' counterpart in her world. The two of them were huge players in perpetuating the time cycles in their worlds, though Mikkel never disappeared in Alternate Martha's world, so it's not certain what other time travel happened in her world.
While Adam headed up Sic Mundus, Alternate Martha aka Eva headed up an organization called Erit Lux. She was trying to perpetuate cycles while Adam was trying to destroy them. But in the end, after the revelation from Claudia, they realized that they were both not on the right track.
Jonas and Alternate Martha travelled to the origin world to prevent Tannhaus' family from dying and then they ceased to exist.
The Unknown
The Unknown was represented by an infinity sign. We always saw him in three forms, as a child, as an adult, and as an old man. He was the child of Jonas and alternate Martha.
The Unknown was portrayed to be the origin of the knot, but like, I felt like his existence wasn't that necessary. He was just jumping between the worlds and plugging up holes like Claudia had always done. And by the end of the show it was established that death in the origin world was the cause of everything.
I mean the idea of the Unknown was interesting, a child born of two beings who were not meant to be. And his concept was cool, three versions of the same character teaming up to carry out tasks.
The Unknown was also Tronte's father, but like, it was just heavily implied. I wasn't even sure it was for sure until I did some reading.
Alternate Charlotte
Alternate Charlotte also did a lot of sleuthing, and she was the one who discovered two identical pennies. She was also having an affair with Ulrich.
Alternate Franziska
Again, like Alternate Magnus, only had a small role. In the Alternate world, Franziska was born deaf instead of Elisabeth, who I don't think was even shown on screen, so Alternate Elisabeth might not even have been born.
Alternate Helge
Like in Jonas' world, Ulrich approached Helge in the past and far past and tried to kill him, but this time it was likely because he thought Helge killed Mads rather than Mikkel.
Old Helge killed Ulrich in the torture chamber.
Origin H.G. Tannhaus
It was revealed that everything had happened because H.G. Tannhaus in the original world was heartbroken over the deaths of his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, and thus used his scientific knowledge to create a time machine. If his family hadn't died, then he wouldn't have created time travel so that's why Jonas and Alternate Martha had to go to the origin world and tamper with things.
Themes
Paradoxes
Like with all time travel, there are paradoxes/contradictions, especially in the case of Dark, where it tried to go super technical. The one that sticks out for me is the idea that something can't be undone. Jonas couldn't kill himself because his future already existed. That itself is fine. But then Jonas and Alternate Martha went to change the past thereby erasing their own existences completely. If they already existed, shouldn't it follow that they couldn't tamper with the origin world to undo their own existences? Just something that made me think.
Love for children
A lot of characters in Dark did things out of love for their children. Of course, H.G. Tannhaus created all of this time travel business because he missed his family. Noah went against Adam in order to ensure Charlotte's safety, Peter died trying to protect Elisabeth, Claudia tampered with the universes to try to protect Regina from being killed, Ulrich and Katharina travelled to the past to look for Mikkel, and Old Martha tried to convince Alternate Martha to keep her baby by bringing the Unknown to her.
Overall
In my opinion, season 1 was the strongest because it set the tone for the show in a unique way. Winden was a drab town no one wanted to live in because everyone hated one another and the secrets were what was killing everybody. I wish this was the theme that persisted throughout the show, and that time travel would just be a vehicle to perpetuate this theme.
Instead, we got a science fiction system that kind of spiralled out of control. It might just be me because I don't love time travel that much to begin with, and also this show tried to go super technical to the point where I lost interest.
Again, I liked this show more for its look and feel. The direction was mostly professionally done, and I did enjoy the music.
So overall, I would say that this show was okay, and I would recommend it only for people who are looking for science fiction, and give disclaimers that I felt the last season was the weakest.
Overall, I think I enjoyed this series more for the direction style than the actual story (I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi/time travel anyway).
Spoilers.
Story
I really wish the story had stuck to time travel rather than multiple universes, and I really think this was a result of the writers writing on a season-by-season basis. If the writers had planned the entire story from start to finish when season 1 was being produced, I think we would've had more clues alluding to multiple universes rather than just Martha appearing at the end of season 2 and all of season 3 being dedicated to multiple universes. Does that make sense? Basically, the story could've been SUPER tight if it had been planned from beginning to end all at once.
I admit that during season 3, I just lost interest in the very technical aspects of the show, in terms of how Jonas, Martha, Claudia, and Charlotte were time hopping to put things in motion or stopping them from happening. There was so much going on that I felt like it didn't matter anymore.
I also didn't think that such a story lended well to sudden revelations because the technical aspect of science fiction was so important. Like season 2, there was a lot of info dumping in this season, and I feel like the writers either should've added episodes, or (preferrably) refrained from trying to plug every single hole in the story to complete the family tree. At the time that it was revealed, I felt like Silja and Bartosz having children just wasn't important to the story anymore.
I was partially convinced by the idea that Jonas and alternate Martha's worlds were only created because H.G. Tannhaus had initiated time travel. My interpretation was that Jonas and Martha's messed up worlds had to persist in order to uphold the logic of the origin world. That, I buy.
However, I didn't really buy the idea of Martha being Jonas' counterpart in her world. I guess the way I would interpret it would be that Martha and Jonas were both children who were not meant to be (Nielsen and Kahnwald families were created as a result of time travel) but they specifically were drawn to each other because of love.
The final scene in the origin world showed people who were not affected by time travel. So out of the adults of 2019, Ulrich and Charlotte were not there because Agnes Nielsen was Bartosz and Silja's child and Charlotte was Elisabeth and Noah's child. And I guess Boris wasn't there because he would've skipped out of town because he wouldn't have found a job welding for the nuclear power plant.
Like I said, I wish this story was a bit tighter because by the end of the season, it wasn't really about time travel anymore, and was more about multiple universes.
Production
The version of season 3 that I found had English dubbing instead of the original German voices, so it took a bit of getting used to.
In terms of the direction style, it was similar to the style of season 2. Less about the grim drab world of Winden and more about science fiction. It was still professionally done, but there was just something about season 1 that invoked a certain feeling and atmosphere. The show even made a point to hate on Winden but at the end of everything, Winden didn't seem like such a big problem anymore except for it just being a generic small town that the residents hated.
Characters
There are A LOT of characters so I'm going to try to only focus on the ones who I remembered. For the characters that have no qualifiers, they are from Jonas' world. The characters with "alternate" in front of their name are from Martha's world, and the characters with "origin" in front of their name are from the origin world.
Jonas Kahnwald
I feel like young Jonas kind of dipped for a big part of the story. Adam had a bigger role in the story as someone who was trying to destroy all the worlds and his own existence along with it. However, Adam also had that talk with Claudia in which she revealed to him that there was an origin world, which then shifted his thinking.
At the end, Jonas and alternate Martha travelled to the origin world to stop H.G. Tannhaus' son and daughter-in-law from driving to the bridge at night which would prevent their deaths and prevent H.G. Tannhaus from trying to create a time machine to begin with. That would erase Jonas' existence, but he was on board with that from season 1.
Hannah Kahnwald
Hannah travelled to the past, posing as Katharina to see Ulrich. I think she was hoping that in this world secluded from their original timeline, they could live judgment free. However, when she visited Ulrich, she wasn't convinced that he really loved her. I think she saw that he was just desperate to get out, and he would love her if it would get him out, but he wouldn't necessarily love her out of his own volition, so she left him.
Still posing as Katharina, Hannah had an affair with Egon Tiedemann and was going to get the child aborted but later kept it. That child was Silja.
Hannah and Silja later visited Adam, and he killed her.
Ulrich Nielsen
Ulrich was visited by Katharina in 1986. She was going to break him out, but she was killed, and that was why he stayed in the mental institution.
Katharina Nielsen
Katharina's mother Helene was a nurse at the institution that Ulrich was at. Katharina tried to mug her to get the key card (which she would use to break Ulrich free) but Helen overpowered her. Thus, Katharina died in 1986.
Magnus Nielsen
Adult Magnus briefly materialized in the alternate world to stop Marta and Bartosz from doing something, but he otherwise didn't have a big role.
Agnes Nielsen
Agnes was Silja and Bartosz' second child. She left Winden to return to Sic Mundus.
Tronte Nielsen
We mostly saw Tronte as a young teen. He kind of had a sexual relationship with Claudia, but on th side, we saw that Jana was starting to be interested in him too.
Helene Albers
As mentioned, Helen was Katharina's mother who was working at the institution. We also saw her as a child because her mother was the midwife who was going to abort Hannah's child. Helene was introduced to Hannah who was posing as "Katharina." I'm hesitant to say that Helene got the inspiration for the name from her meeting Katharina because Katharina still showed up in the origin world.
Anyway, Helene was an insanely devout woman, and was also abusive to Katharina. Even as an adult, Katharina was a bit timid with Helene, showing how much fear she had of her mother.
Charlotte Doppler
Charlotte did some time hopping in this season, but honestly she didn't have as big of an impact on the story as I'd liked. I was hoping she'd be doing some more sleuthing, but I guess she couldn't measure up to Claudia who had a lot more experience and research.
Peter Doppler
We mostly saw Peter in the aftermath of the apocalypse where he was trying to care for Elisabeth. He died when trying to protect Elisabeth from a rapist.
Franziska Doppler
Like Magnus, Franziska didn't have a huge role and they mostly showed up together.
Elisabeth Doppler
Like Peter, we mostly saw Elisabeth in the apocalypse, usually with her dad or with Noah. Elisabeth killed her rapist but not before he stabbed her dad to death.
Noah said that he'd protect Elisabeth after Peter's death, and it seems that was carried out, as we did see Elisabeth grow up into an adult to have Charlotte.
Egon Tiedemann
Egon had an affair with Hannah and fell in love with her. Meanwhile, Doris was still very in love with Agnes, and after some convincing by the Unknown, Doris figured she should divorce Egon. After the divorce, Claudia stayed with Egon, and it seems Egon became an alcoholic.
In his old age, Egon understood time travel, but not the multiple universes.
Doris Tiedemann
As mentioned, Doris was in love with Agnes, and after Agnes returned to Sic Mundus and left Tronte in her house, she spent all of her energy looking for clues to find Agnes.
Claudia Tiedemann
Claudia eventually figured out that there was an origin world and finally was able to set up a meeting to explain it to Adam.
Bartosz Tiedemann
I thought that Bartosz would have a limited role, but it turns out he was sent by older Martha to stop alternate Martha from going to the Nielsen house right before the apocalypse.
Bartosz also travelled back to the 1800s and eventually had kids with Silja.
Silja Tiedemann
Silja was the girl we saw from the future who was Elisabeth's interpreter. She was Hannah Kahnwald and Egon Tiedemann's daughter. Like Bartosz, I didn't expect to see her again, but I felt like her being sent back to the past was just to tie up loose ends.
Hanno Tauber/Noah
Noah was Silja and Bartosz's first child. We didn't really see him do anything new this season, just repeating his steps in his timeline as he always had.
Alternate Ulrich
In the alternate world, Ulrich and Katharina had three kids, but Ulrich divorced Katharina to be with Hannah. While Hannah was pregnant, Ulrich was having an affair with Charlotte. So Ulrich was still pretty scummy in the alternate universe.
In the alternate world, Ulrich was also investigating the sudden appearance of a dead boy (who ended up being his brother Mads). He'd gone as far as Ulrich Nielsen did (in Jonas' world), but he was eventually killed by old Helge who was trying to break the cycle.
Alternate Hannah
Alternate Hannah was just as selfish and vindictive as Hannah Kahnwald was. After she figured out Ulrich was having an affair, she blackmailed Ulrich into ruining Charlotte's life. We never saw the results of that though. As well, if I recall correctly, we saw a scene in which Hannah was having a miscarriage, so I guess they weren't meant to have a baby, just like they weren't in Jonas' world either.
Alternate Katharina
In the alternate world, Katharina was a single mom taking care of three kids, but Mikkel never disappeared.
Alternate Martha
Alternate Martha was supposed to be Jonas' counterpart in her world. The two of them were huge players in perpetuating the time cycles in their worlds, though Mikkel never disappeared in Alternate Martha's world, so it's not certain what other time travel happened in her world.
While Adam headed up Sic Mundus, Alternate Martha aka Eva headed up an organization called Erit Lux. She was trying to perpetuate cycles while Adam was trying to destroy them. But in the end, after the revelation from Claudia, they realized that they were both not on the right track.
Jonas and Alternate Martha travelled to the origin world to prevent Tannhaus' family from dying and then they ceased to exist.
The Unknown
The Unknown was represented by an infinity sign. We always saw him in three forms, as a child, as an adult, and as an old man. He was the child of Jonas and alternate Martha.
The Unknown was portrayed to be the origin of the knot, but like, I felt like his existence wasn't that necessary. He was just jumping between the worlds and plugging up holes like Claudia had always done. And by the end of the show it was established that death in the origin world was the cause of everything.
I mean the idea of the Unknown was interesting, a child born of two beings who were not meant to be. And his concept was cool, three versions of the same character teaming up to carry out tasks.
The Unknown was also Tronte's father, but like, it was just heavily implied. I wasn't even sure it was for sure until I did some reading.
Alternate Charlotte
Alternate Charlotte also did a lot of sleuthing, and she was the one who discovered two identical pennies. She was also having an affair with Ulrich.
Alternate Franziska
Again, like Alternate Magnus, only had a small role. In the Alternate world, Franziska was born deaf instead of Elisabeth, who I don't think was even shown on screen, so Alternate Elisabeth might not even have been born.
Alternate Helge
Like in Jonas' world, Ulrich approached Helge in the past and far past and tried to kill him, but this time it was likely because he thought Helge killed Mads rather than Mikkel.
Old Helge killed Ulrich in the torture chamber.
Origin H.G. Tannhaus
It was revealed that everything had happened because H.G. Tannhaus in the original world was heartbroken over the deaths of his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, and thus used his scientific knowledge to create a time machine. If his family hadn't died, then he wouldn't have created time travel so that's why Jonas and Alternate Martha had to go to the origin world and tamper with things.
Themes
Paradoxes
Like with all time travel, there are paradoxes/contradictions, especially in the case of Dark, where it tried to go super technical. The one that sticks out for me is the idea that something can't be undone. Jonas couldn't kill himself because his future already existed. That itself is fine. But then Jonas and Alternate Martha went to change the past thereby erasing their own existences completely. If they already existed, shouldn't it follow that they couldn't tamper with the origin world to undo their own existences? Just something that made me think.
Love for children
A lot of characters in Dark did things out of love for their children. Of course, H.G. Tannhaus created all of this time travel business because he missed his family. Noah went against Adam in order to ensure Charlotte's safety, Peter died trying to protect Elisabeth, Claudia tampered with the universes to try to protect Regina from being killed, Ulrich and Katharina travelled to the past to look for Mikkel, and Old Martha tried to convince Alternate Martha to keep her baby by bringing the Unknown to her.
Overall
In my opinion, season 1 was the strongest because it set the tone for the show in a unique way. Winden was a drab town no one wanted to live in because everyone hated one another and the secrets were what was killing everybody. I wish this was the theme that persisted throughout the show, and that time travel would just be a vehicle to perpetuate this theme.
Instead, we got a science fiction system that kind of spiralled out of control. It might just be me because I don't love time travel that much to begin with, and also this show tried to go super technical to the point where I lost interest.
Again, I liked this show more for its look and feel. The direction was mostly professionally done, and I did enjoy the music.
So overall, I would say that this show was okay, and I would recommend it only for people who are looking for science fiction, and give disclaimers that I felt the last season was the weakest.